Second Chances
by xxkse21xx
Summary: Blame It On The Alcohol - Jesse crashes the party looking to apologize to Rachel.      Disclaimer:  I own none of the pairings/the show/etc!
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Second Chances

**Pairing:** Rachel Berry & Jesse St. James _St. Berry_

**Summary:** Blame It On The Alcohol: The Way. AU. Jesse comes looking to apologize to Rachel…the same night that she let Puck convince her to throw a party.

**Author's Note:** The more I watch Seasons 1 & 2 over and over again…I'm becoming a huge Shipper! Though I do still ship Finchel AND Puckleberry. Each coupling has the dynamics for such diversity and ultimate awesomeness. Anyway, I was watching this episode and the HORRIBLE way Finn was being to Rachel. I know. She kissed Puck. GUESS WHAT. Quinn? Yeah she forced him to get a job and lied to him about a baby that wasn't his. She tried sucking him into that life and having him pay for her bills. So that's where this inspiration came from. So from the moment she asked who wants to play spin-the-bottle, it's all shiny and new!

"And then we come around full circle right back to you. Rachel and right now you are being the needy girl drunk. Hanging all over me, being overly lovey. It's not cool."

"Well, what kind of girl is this?" Rachel asked, the sting of his brutal rejection still stinging. "Play spin-the-bottle. Who wants to play spin-the-bottle?"

"I do." Jesse had thought about leaving. No one had noticed his entrance after all. Had he not been able to overhear the harsh words Finn threw at Rachel, Jesse would have slipped in and out as easily as a ghost.

The entire party seemed to come to a stop. Rachel turned her attention to the newcomer. The complete shock of his arrival seemed to sober her up a minuscule amount. She couldn't help but revel in the dramatic entrance and timing of his arrival. The corner of her mouth was threatening to turn upwards into a smile at the theatricality of it all.

"You don't belong here." Finn's words were full of hostility and anger. Anger that he didn't have any right to feel as far as Rachel Berry was concerned.

"I don't believe its your house, Finn." Twenty minutes ago she would have loved the idea of Finn defending her honor and showing her that he cared for still, in any way. But after the way he'd talked to her, he had all but pushed her into Jesse's arms. Again.

Jesse didn't bother to hide smug smile that tugged his lips as Rachel informed him of that. After all, her back was to him. It wasn't that he was here to play Rachel but he couldn't help enjoying that Finn was being shut down by Rachel. He knew why Rachel hated him, why they all hated him. What he had done to Rachel was horrible. It was the worst thing he had ever done. It was the thing Jesse St. James regretted most.

When Rachel turned to look at him the smug, boasting was but a ghost replaced by a hopeful expression. "What are you doing here?" Rachel asked, her words slurring slightly. Damn the alcohol. This was not the way he was supposed to see her. Being pushed away and yelled at by Finn was no less humiliating than eggs in her hair.

Thankfully the rest of his audience was far past intoxicated. Otherwise he might have stepped into an angry riot scenario. Santana was crying to her boyfriend and the others seems occupied or at least as though they weren't trying to stare. The only blatant hostility aimed his way came from Finn.

"I came to see you."


	2. Chapter 2: I chose wrong

Right now she should be remembering the horrible way he treated. And the way he called her outside so that his whole team could throw eggs at her. But between the alcohol in her system, the hurt Finn just caused her and the shock of seeing Jesse again…all she could think about was hearing what he had to say. Rachel crossed the distance between them and slipped her hand into his. "We can talk upstairs. It'll be…quieter…in my room."

Anger was rolling off of Finn Hudson in palpable waves. From the way his jaw set and his fists clenched it was obvious to tell that Finn Hudson was more than a little pissed off. Though it was something Jesse was easily able to ignore, especially as her hand grabbed his. He couldn't help smirking at Finn as he passed.

Once they were in her room with the door closed he watched her head to the bed but then drop into the chair at her desk. His hands slipped into his pockets. A nervous gesture. An emotion that was foreign to Jesse St. James. It was amazing the feelings that she could bring out in him. "I'm sorry Rachel. Really, truly sorry," Jesse started, his voice faltering from the pain and regret that plagued him since the day he broke up with her.

"Jesse-"

He held up his hand to stop her. "You deserve an apology better than this. After what I put you through…what I did to you. I'm _lucky_ that you are even talking to me." Rachel Berry was special. She was beautiful, talented and a drama queen. But he loved her. He was _in love_ with her. There was no other girl, no other person that he'd allow himself to be this vulnerable with. Jesse moved forward and knelt on the ground in front of her. He wanted to look into her eyes. "I was an immature boy. I thought that love was a distraction, that you were a distraction. I've spent every day since then living with regret. I chose wrong. I didn't choose you."

Originally he'd had a better, more rehearsed speech to say to her. Unfortunately he had been thrown off by the party going on, the fact that Rachel was drunk. Everything he had said, had been spoken from the heart. And hopefully infinitely better than the speech he had rehearsed.

All Rachel Berry wanted to feel was loved. She knew she was talented and worthy of everyones praise and admirations. But she didn't know that she was special and beautiful and none of that had to do with her talent. Jesse could see that. He _had_ seen that. He had made the mistake of putting his career before love. He could see the inner battle being fought over whether to believe him. Her eyes always betrayed her. They were always full of such emotion.

"I don't know what to say," Rachel finally said. Her head and her heart were battling with each other Her heart wanted to believe him, to fall into his arms and let him love her. That's the way it should have been. But her head? Her head remembers washing the eggs out of her hair, picking the shells out. "I want to believe you Jesse, I do, but I just don't know."


End file.
